Authors often give a title to their work as it is written. The publisher may or may not use the author's title. The author's suggestion is the "working title." And for the publisher -- sometimes it just doesn't "work." He believes he has the pulse of the consumer -- not the finicky author.
That's true even of the Doc Savage novels. Fan favorite Brand of the Werewolf was originally titled The Crew of Skeletons. It's a toss-up which title sounds better. The Crew of Skeletons evokes a stronger image for this writer. However, I have to agree with the decision to go with The Laugh of Death instead of the working title Death Laughed and Laughed. I'm sure the editors thought World Fair's Goblin would sell better than Goblin! Goblin!
Will Murray used the title Flight into Fear for his Doc Savage novel. The title wasn't unfamiliar to the editors at Doc Savage Magazine. It was the alternate title offered for two novels: King Joe Cay and Terror and the Lonely Widow.
Below we're offering a match puzzle for Doc fans. On the left are the titles you've memorized from repeated readings of the novels. On the right are working titles. How many can you match? We've given four answers. For a list of the answers write us at: answers@docsavage.info
1 - The Land of Terror (a) - Cavu is Dead 2 - Brand of the Werewolf (b) - Death Came Solo 3 - The Annihilist (c) - Death in a Flash 4 - The Majii (d) - Death in the Book 5 - The South Pole Terror (e) - Death Laughed and Laughed 6 - The Sea Angel (f) - Death Wore a Golden Bell 7 - The Submarine Mystery (g) - Deuces Wild 8 - The Red Terrors (h) - Devil Takes the Last 9 - The Yellow Cloud (i) - Flight into Fear 10 - World's Fair Goblin (j) - Flight into Fear 11 - The Evil Gnome (k) - Genie 12 - The Golden Man (l) - Goblin! Goblin!, Man of Tomorrow 13 - Mystery Island (m) - He Was So Scared 14 - Birds of Death (n) - His Majesty, King Terror 15 - The Invisible-Box Murders (o) - In Hell, Madonna 16 - Peril in the North (p) - Jonah Had a Whale 17 - Men of Fear (q) - Jungle Strange 18 - The Fiery Menace (r) - Man Afraid 19 - The Laugh of Death (s) - Miracle by Williams 20 - Waves of Death (t) - Mr. Calamity 21 - The King of Terror (u) - Mystery at Parade 22 - The Talking Devil (v) - Sea Snare 23 - The Secret of the Su (w) - Skull Cay 24 - The Derelict of Skull Shoal (x) - The Buccaneer 25 - The Man Who Was Scared (y) - The Crew of Skeletons 26 - The Red Spider (z) - Three Dead Danes 27 - Strange Fist (aa) - The Devilish Mr. Wail 28 - The Ten Ton Snakes (bb) - The Fish Was Strange 29 - Cargo Unknown (cc) - The Green Cloud 30 - Rock Sinister (dd) - The Hair on End, Chemistry of Death 31 - King Joe Cay (ee) - The Ice Age 32 - The Thing That Pursued (ff) - The Invisible Box 33 - Trouble on Parade (gg) - The Jiu San Man 34 - Measures For a Coffin (hh) - The Lost Ones 35 - Se-Pah-Poo (ii) - The Lost Vampire 36 - Five Fathoms Dead (jj) - The Mountain of Terror 37 - Colors for Murder (kk) - The Phantom Submarine 38 - Fire and Ice (ll) - The Speaking Satan 39 - Three Times a Corpse (mm) - The Sun Terror 40 - The Exploding Lake (nn) - The Terrible Jones 41 - The Devil is Jones (oo) - The Terror Under the Sea 42 - Danger Lies East (pp) - The Wizard 43 - The Pure Evil (qq) - They Stood Dead 44 - Return From Cormoral (rr) - thirty Fathoms to Hell 45 - Up From Earth's Center (ss) - Those Golden Birds 46 - Death is a Round Black Spot (tt) - The One-Eyed Mystic 47 - Terror and the Lonely Widow (uu) - The Man Nobody Could See 48 - According to Plan of a One-Eyed Mystic (vv) - Skull Shoal 49 - Jiu San (ww) - The Crime Annihilist, The Crime Annihilator
Comments (1)
Pretty damn complete list. I didn't see any notable omissions. New site design looks great, Chuck. BTW, the one novel I moved was YELLOW CLOUD, from 1936 to spring 1938, following MERCHANTS OF DISASTER. Rick Lai pointed out one of Pat's employees was a refugee in 1938, prompting the move. I can send the revised entry if you want it to post as errata.
Posted by Jeff | August 31, 2002 1:39 PM
Posted on August 31, 2002 13:39